Bromsgrove School

Thomas Cookes House, founded by Sir Thomas Cookes in 1693, is the oldest building on the site

The school was first recorded in 1476 as a chantry school and was re-established as a grammar school between 1548 and 1553. The 1693 financial endowment of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648-1701) of Norgrove Court in Worcestershire, produced the first buildings on the present site and the historic link with Worcester College, Oxford, which he founded. The arms of Cookes (Argent, two chevronels between six martlets 3, 2 and 1 gules) were adopted by both Worcester College and Bromsgrove School. John Day Collis became head-master in December 1842. The tercentenary of the grammar school was celebrated on 31 March 1853. In 1856, Collis had the chapel and new school rooms built, and existing buildings enlarged and improved. In 1869 Bromsgrove was one of the fourteen founding schools of the Headmasters' Conference.

Commemoration Day (known colloquially as Commem) is the senior school's traditional end of year celebration. It is a special day for the school and especially for the upper sixth leavers. When Sir Thomas Cookes re-endowed the school in 1693, he enjoined that once a year a sermon should be preached to the scholars of the school in St John's Parish Church. It is this that the school commemorates as well as celebrating the end of the academic year with a prizegiving.

Following a very small private ceremony in the Cookes Room celebrating the founder Sir Thomas Cookes, where the heads of school lay a wreath beneath a portrait of Cookes, the whole school (except the lower fourth) then proceeds to St John's Church for the commemoration service. Unusually the school does not have its own school song, however, Charles Villiers Stanford's setting of Te Deum Laudamus in B flat has been sung at the service since 1989, becoming an unofficial school song.

After the church service everyone returns to school and takes their place in the speeches' marquee. The school and parents are addressed by the president of the school and the headmaster. Prizes are awarded to upper sixth leavers and other pupils.

At 4.15pm the chapel bell begins to toll, calling the school to final call over. All the pupils line up in houses with their houseparents, housemothers and tutors on the parade ground between Kyteless and the chapel. Each house, beginning with school house (the senior house of the school), in turn then moves forward and every pupil shakes hands with their house staff, the heads of school and then the headmaster and his wife. The final ceremony is the lowering of the school flag by the heads of school who hand it to the deputy head who then hands it to the headmaster for safekeeping until the start of the next academic year.

Bromsgrove School has boarding and day students and consists of three schools, pre-prep nursery school (ages 2–7), preparatory school (ages 7–13) and the senior school (13–18). The school has a total of 200 teaching staff, with 1,660 pupils, including 220 in the pre-preparatory school, 500 in the preparatory School and 940 in the senior school, of whom 60% are male and 40% female, 60% boarding and 40% day. As well as British students, there are more than three hundred from 49 different countries, especially Russia, Germany, China and Hong Kong.

Main Worcester Road entrance

The school website states that the pass rate at grades A* to C (exams at age 16) is 96%.[8] Bromsgrove also started teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) in 2009, with sixth form students having the choice between IB, BTEC and A-Levels. The rugby match against King Edward's School, Birmingham, that has been played annually since 1875,[9] is thought to be the oldest continuous rugby fixture between two schools in England.[10]

Similar to most public schools in Britain and the Commonwealth, Bromsgrove has a system of school leaders known as monitors. As representatives of the school, monitors' jobs are mostly based around keeping the school running at its best level of quality and tradition, with chapel and lunch duties being an example of this. Pupils who belong to any of these categories, in addition to other leadership roles, are entitled to a certain set of privileges, such as monitor ties, brown shoes, and waistcoats/cardigans.

In addition to the monitors, Bromsgrove has a set of heads of school featuring a head boy and girl, and their respective deputies.

Monitors and heads of school are chosen towards the end of their penultimate lower sixth year; the decision is made from a combination of both a student poll and teacher vote.

57% of Bromsgrove School students achieved A*/A for the 2019 A Levels examination while 64% of students obtained A*/A for the 2019 GCSE examination.[11]

North Gate entrance, with the Dining Hall seen behind to the right

The preparatory school houses of Boulton (Matthew Boulton), Darby (Abraham Darby), Telford (Thomas Telford), Watt (James Watt), were named after famous British industrialists.
The houses were renamed in 2020 Cedar, Rowan, Ash, Willow, Sycamore and Beech after species of trees. The change was made to avoid links to those involved with the slave trade or child labour.

Housman Hall, one of the school's senior boarding houses, was formerly the home of poet A. E. Housman

The senior school is divided into thirteen houses; six for boys, five for girls and two mixed.

There are three academic terms in the year.[13]

• The Michaelmas term, from early September to mid December. New pupils are now admitted only at the start of the Michaelmas, unless in exceptional circumstances.
• The Lent term, from early January to late March.
• The Summer term, from late April to late June or early July.

Within each term, there is a break known as a half term, in which all pupils return home.

The headmasters of the school:[14]

Notable Old Bromsgrovians, include five Victoria Cross recipients and A. E. Housman. In business and politics, Digby Jones and Michael Heseltine were both educated at Bromsgrove, as were actors Ian Carmichael,[15] Richard Wattis (of Hancock's Half Hour, Sykes, Father Dear Father), Trevor Eve (of Shoestring), Nick Miles (of Emmerdale) and Arthur Darvill (of Doctor Who). The author Nicholas Evans who wrote The Horse Whisperer and journalist Chris Atkins were educated at Bromsgrove. More recently, Iskra Lawrence (an English model, global role model and brand ambassador) attended the School.

In music, John Illsley, of the band Dire Straits, Guillemots member Fyfe Dangerfield, Ritchie Neville of boy band Five and jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch attended the school.

The school continues to produce leading sportsman – Matt Neal attended during the 1980s, and Andy Goode was part of the drive by the school to welcome more leading rugby players to the school. Bromsgrove continues to educate many England national sportsmen including Ben Foden and Matt Mullan who have played Rugby union for England.

Others include Peter Spence, an English journalist and writer who wrote the British sitcom To the Manor Born and Admiral Sir Ben Key KCB, CBE, ADC, who is a senior naval officer; and has served as First Sea Lord since November 2021.

Rear-Admiral Sir David William Haslam (1923–2009) was educated at Bromsgrove School; he returned as a governor and lived opposite the school in Worcester Road until his death.

• List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom

• Bromsgrove School Website
• Bromsgrove School Alumni Website
• Bromsgrove School OB's who died in three wars
• Map of Bromsgrove School Grounds